Here is Casca’s life story set out from 1590, continuing along until the middle of the 19th century.
1590-1682 Theoretical and Mentioned
Casca 21: The Trench Soldier mentions Casca fighting in the Thirty Years War.
Living with the villagers for a while, Casca moves in with a widow, and things are settled until more religious discord sweeps the country. Branded a witch, Casca barely escapes with the mob after him, and he sails across the sea to Sweden where the country is about to go to war with Denmark. Rising to sergeant, Casca impresses the new king Gustav Adolph, and is promoted to Count of Hapsal, one of the newly conquered regions following wars with Norway and Russia. He administers land there until the Thirty Years War breaks out and Casca goes with the King and the army to Germany to fight.
At Breitenfeld (1631) the Swedes triumph but a year later at Lutzen the King is killed, although Casca and the other officers rally the Swedes to victory. But then in 1634 at Nordlingen the Swedes are badly beaten and Casca is left for dead on the battlefield. When he recovers, he makes his way to the reforming Swedish army and rejoins, this time as a private, and fights until the end of the war.
He moves east and finds another Cossack people, the Zarapog, who are being oppressed by the Poles. Seeing an opportunity to help them, Casca joins them and fights in the revolt.
Main points in Casca books 1590-1682
- 1590
- 1600
- 1610
- 1618 Start of 30 years war
- 1620
- 1630
- 1640
- 1648 End of 30 years war
- 1650
- 1660
- 1670
- 1680
1683 Casca 48: The Austrian
After the revolt is over, he moves south west as war with an old enemy is coming, and he joins the Austrians in Vienna just before the Turks arrive to beseige it. Eventually the Austrians, helped by the Poles, triumph at the Battle of Kahlenberg.
1684-1699 Theoretical
Casca is part of Prince Eugene’s army that liberates Hungary from the Turks. Rising to Captain, Casca campaigns successfully in Transylvania. But when the war finishes, Casca decides to head for a new conflict, where Spain and France are facing a coalition of allied powers.
Main points in Casca books 1684-1699
- 1684
- 1690
- 1699
1700-1718 Theoretical and Mentioned
Casca joins the Allied forces as a British grenadier under John Churchill and the campaigns during the war sees many battles, such as Blenheim and Malplaquet. Casca’s experience helps him through the bloody war and at the end of it is shipped back to London where he’s billeted with the other grenadiers. But then he gets into a fight with two others over a woman and kills them.
Main Points in Casca books 1700-1718
- 1700
- 1710
- 1718 – Casca kills some British grenadiers and escapes arrest by taking ship to Jamaica.
1718 Casca 15: The Pirate
Escaping arrest, Casca takes a ship to Jamaica and while he’s there, is hired by a plantation owner to find his niece who’s been kidnapped by pirates. Put on board Blackbeard’s ship under cover, Casca is discovered and marooned by Blackbeard on an island. Enlisting an Anglo-Spanish group of fugitives, they steal a ship and sail to Jamaica and find the niece and rescue her, but the plantation owner betrays Casca. Killing him, Casca decides to stay with the niece in Jamaica for a while.
1718-1774 Theoretical and Mentioned
Casca’s participation in the European theatre of the Seven Year’s War is mentioned in the Trench Soldier, and in the Minuteman.
Finally Casca leaves Jamaica and lands in North America. The lure of a free life in the untamed wilds draws him west with fur trappers. When Cherokee attack, all the trappers are killed and Casca’s healing powers impress the Cherokee. He’s taken to their village where he lives as a powerful medicine man for some years, taking the chief’s daughter as his squaw. But when smallpox decimates the village, including the squaw, the surviving Cherokee decide Casca’s medicine is broken and cast him out.
He staggers into a British settlement who believe he’s a survivor of an attack and take him in. He ends up with a wealthy widow who tells him her late husband was murdered by a French officer. Taking payment to hunt him down, Casca ends up crossing the Atlantic to Europe and enlists in the Prussian army who are fighting the French. When Casca finally finds the Frenchman he’s told that in fact the widow and he were lovers but he had gone back to his wife and she had never forgiven him. Casca returns to America and tells her the Frenchman died in the war.
Main points in Casca books 1719-1774
- 1719
- 1720
- 1730
- 1740
- 1750
- 1757 – Outbreak of 7 years war. Casca ends up fighting for the Prussians.
- 1760
- 1764 – End of 7 years war. Casca returns to North America.
- 1770
1775-1777 Casca 36: The Minuteman
Growing discontent with British rule leads towards conflict. Casca is arrested on false charges by British officer Sir Richard Eley and he escapes and he joins the rebels, fighting at Lexington, Boston, New York and Trenton & Princeton, with Sir Richard seeking to kill Casca at every opportunity.
Main points 1775-1777
- 1775 Outbreak of War, Battles of Lexington and Boston
- 1776 Battle of New York, Battle of Trenton
- 1777 Battle of Princeton
1777-1783 Casca 38: The Continental
The war carries on, with Casca initially experiencing more reverses at Philadelphia, but everntually the war turns and the Americans begin to win the war, and finally at Yorktown the British surrender.
Main Points in Casca books 1777 – 1783
- 1777 Battle of Philadelphia.
- 1780
- 1781 Yorktown. Casca witnesses final surrender of British forces
- 1783 Formal end of war
1784 – 1811. Theoretical and Mentioned
Staying on for a while after the American independence, Casca finally knows he has to leave so travels to Europe, and land sin France which itself is engulfed in revolution. As part of Napoleon’s invincible army, Casca takes part in many of the famous campaigns, first in Italy then in Germany and Austria. Some of the victories include Marengo, Ulm, Austerlitz and Wagram. Casca rises in the ranks to sergeant and is one of the most experienced members of the army. But over a dozen years of fighting he knows he should change units or else begin to attract suspicion. He leaves the main army and enrols in Prince Eugene’s Army of Italy.
Main Points in Casca books 1784 – 1811
- 1784
- 1790
- 1800
- 1810
- 1811
1812. Casca 30: Napoleon’s Soldier
Part of Napoleon’s Grande Armee to invade Russia, Casca and his unit make their way to Russia via Poland. They come across a looted village and the looters are executed except for their leader who has escaped. Casca vows to a dying Polish girl to return precious icons that have been stolen. Joining the invading force, Casca takes under his wing a Polish woman, Marianka, who is a target of an assassin. Fighting their way into Moscow, the army fights a fire, but then as winter approaches, have to retreat. On the journey back the army is whittled down and Casca battles to keep his unit together. Eventually Marianka dies and Casca finds the mystery looter and the icons. But he is arrested and shot as a murderer.
1813 – 1815. Casca 56: The Iron Duke’s Man.
Casca recovers and decides never to fight for Napoleon again. Making his way to Holland he spends a year or two on a farm until news arrives of Napoleon’s escape from Elba and Casca hurries to join the coalition forces massing in Belgium. He’s part of Wellington’s British army that wins at Waterloo.
1816 – 1845. Theoretical and mentioned
Casca The Legionnaire refers to Casca serving in Sidi Slimane in 1832 as a member of the French Foreign Legion, and African Mercenary mentions Casca being part of the Boer Trek of the 1830s.
Casca recovers and decides never to fight for Napoleon again. Making his way to Holland he spends a year or two on a farm until news arrives of Napoleon’s escape from Elba and Casca hurries to join the coalition forces massing in Belgium. He’s part of Wellington’s British army that wins at Waterloo. But with the ending of the European conflicts, Casca returns to the farm to find it occupied by its former owners, so he hires himself out as a mercenary and soon gets a job fighting for the Greeks in their war of independence. When the war ends, Casca ends up in the French Foreign Legion in north Africa and for a while fights against the Arabs in a murderous war but deserts after killing his sadistic sergeant.
Travelling to the southern tip of Africa, Casca joins the Boers in their trek northwards away from British control and helps defeat the Zulus. He takes a Boer woman but when she dies Casca kills the British soldiers responsible and becomes a wanted man.
Main Points in Casca books 1816 – 1845
- 1820
- 1830
- 1832 Casca joins Foreign Legion at Sidi Slimane
- 1835 Great Boer Trek begins
- 1838 Battle of Blood River
- 1840
- 1845 After killing some British soldiers, Casca escapes South Africa en route to America
1846-1848. Casca 25: Halls of Montezuma
Stowing away on a ship, Casca eventually arrives in America, hoping for a new life. He saves a family of Irish immigrants from the clutches of Whitby, a felon and brothel owner. When Casca is badly hurt in a fight at Whitby’s place, he’s cared for by Ann, the eldest daughter in the Irish family, the McGuires.
Settling down in Lynchburg, Virginia, Casca becomes aware the Brotherhood is hunting him as well as Whitby and decides to join the American army just as war with Mexico breaks out. Fighting his way to Monterrey, Casca forges his unit into a battle hardened one, and then is sent to Vera Cruz to fight up to Mexico City where they storm the fortress of Chapultepec. He finally kills Whitby and saves the life of the youngest daughter, Elizabeth.
Main Points 1846 – 1848
- 1846 Casca arrives in America. Outbreak of war with Mexico
- 1848 End of Mexican War
1848 – 1862. Casca 26: Johnny Reb
Casca stays on the farm, mostly because the Brotherhood threaten to kill everyone if he doesn’t. The girls have all grown up and Elizabeth and Casca become lovers. This causes friction in the household so Casca and Elizabeth move to Richmond after Casca wipes out the Brotherhood cell in the area. Civil War comes and Casca joins the Confederacy to fight for Virginia and is involved in training up his platoon which includes Ann McGuire’s son, Billy Brady. Victories against the North follow, but the Brotherhood close in and corrupt Ann to work for them and Elizabeth is taken prisoner.
Main Points 1848 – 1862
- 1848
- 1850
- 1857 Death of Mary Maguire
- 1860 Casca and Elizabeth Maguire move to Richmond
- 1861 Outbreak of Civil War; Casca joins Confederacy
- 1862 Battles outside Richmond and Manassas. Elizabeth taken captive and dies.
1862 – 1865. Casca 27: The Confederate
As the war turns against the Confederacy, Casca learns of Elizabeth’s capture and finds her dead. Vowing revenge, he rejoins the army in time for the Gettysburg campaign and he and his unit are trapped behind enemy lines after the defeat. Chased by the Brotherhood, he and his men finally turn up at Lynchburg and destroy the Brotherhood units and Billy takes his deranged mother to an asylum. The war then closes in and Casca, Billy and one of their unit, Herman Munz, end up back at Lynchburg after the war where Casca bids a farewell.
Main Points 1862 – 1865
- 1862 Battles of Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg
- 1863 Battle of Gettysburg
- 1864 Battles of Petersburg
- 1865 Final surrender of Confederacy. Casca leaves for the West